


By any other name

by warpstar



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda AU: Linked Universe
Genre: Gen, I love to talk about this dumb game, If Nintendo will not give me the Warriors content I want I will make it myself, If you don't know a lot about Hyrule Warriors and find yourself confused hit me up, Linked Universe, Linkle is the most powerful character in Hyrule Warriors NO I do NOT accept criticism, Oh dear here come the headcanons, Sheik's gender is a mystery and I respect that, Warriors focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-01-06 14:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18389969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warpstar/pseuds/warpstar
Summary: For the most part, they had been able to puzzle out the meaning to their names. Not Link, of course, but their titles, what they were known as.Warriors had been a little hurt, honestly, when they had looked at his uniform, his weapons, and called him “Captain”, before moving on.He was a soldier. He knew he looked like one, acted like one, proudly carried the colors of his nation like one.Still, it was a wonder why no one had questioned why his heroic title wasn’t “Soldier”.Until now.





	1. Welcome Wagon

**Author's Note:**

> Credit for AU and character concepts goes to Jojo at linkeduniverse.tumblr.com
> 
> Warriors deserves more love and Hyrule Warriors is a fun game, folks.

For the most part, they had been able to puzzle out the meaning to their names. Not Link, of course, but their titles, what they were known as. 

Sky was from the sky, Time had traveled through time, Legend and Hyrule were heroes to all of them and had well-known tales, Twilight had the whole evil darkness thing that had happened, Wind could control the breeze, Wild wandered through the countryside, and Four, well... 

Four was still a mystery, but they had a betting pool going and Warriors was confident his bet would win the pot. 

He had been a little hurt, honestly, when they had looked at his uniform, his weapons, and called him “Captain”, before moving on. 

He was a soldier. He knew he looked like one, acted like one, proudly carried the colors of his nation like one. 

Still, it was a wonder why no one had questioned why his heroic title wasn’t “Soldier”. 

Until now. 

\-----

It was easy to tell when they suddenly found themselves in Warriors’ Hyrule. They had a welcoming committee. 

A blue fairy came streaking out of nowhere, jingling with cheer and all but shouting, “Link! Link!” 

Wincing slightly, at the harsh intake of breath behind him, Warriors lifted a fond hand for his friend to land on. 

“Proxi,” he greeted warmly, smiling softly at the fluttering fairy. Better to get this out of the way, he thought to himself, before turning around. 

The look on Time’s face was the worst thing Warriors had ever seen. It beat the bloody corpses of fallen fellow soldiers, the slumped form of Lana, Zelda covered in wounds and calling the retreat. 

It was like Time had just seen all of his worst nightmares come to life, but there was an even more painful shiny hope that seemed oddly lonely and childlike in his eyes that Warriors knew he would crush by his sheer existence.

Twilight was ashen, and the rest of them also noticed the weird tension. 

“Navi…?” Time’s voice was small, like his younger counterpart that Warriors had only briefly met. The older hero lifted a wobbly hand and took a halting step closer to Proxi, trembling. 

Proxi fluttered anxiously, sensing that something was happening but not quite sure how to react. 

“Hello!” The fairy called with resilient cheer. 

Warriors cupped a hand around Proxi gently, shielding her from view. Time’s eyes whipped to his and he stared into the eyes of a desperately lonely child. He shook his head. 

“I’m sorry, she’s not who you are looking for.”

He held Time’s gaze sympathetically until he saw something shatter in the other hero. With a swift move, Time was stumbling off. Twilight anxiously glanced at Warriors with a haunted look, then set off to follow him, Four and Hyrule trailing not far behind him. 

“Did I do something wrong?” Proxi asked sadly, drooping. 

“No,” Legend answered, looking regretful himself. “Just brought up some bad memories, I think. Nice to meet you, I’m Link, but you can call me Legend.” 

“There’s only one Link!” Proxi defended hotly, flying around Warriors shoulders in agitation. 

If the mood had been any lighter, they would have laughed. Instead, only a few strained smiles were to be found as they all introduced themselves, and Warriors sighed heavily. He always knew this would be a problem if they ever ended up in his Hyrule. He just hadn’t been able to find the words to warn Time. 

How do you say to a hero you’ve looked up to, fought along a younger version of, and now know as an adult, “Hey, I know you have blue fairy trauma, but I have a blue fairy friend of my own and we might run into them someday, so don’t freak out.”

Yeah, right. 

He had always been better at hitting things than words. Proxi had helped him a lot with that. 

“Link!” Proxi exclaimed, suddenly energized. “Your friend is coming back!” 

Sure enough, the old man and the others were walking back. Time didn’t meet his eyes. The others seemed concerned and dissatisfied. 

“Well,” he said, trying his best smile. “This is Time, Hyrule, Four and Twilight. Everyone, this is Proxi.” 

There were a few muttered greetings, and he turned to his fairy companion, feeling like the lowest dirt. 

“Proxi, do you mind leading us back to the castle?” Warriors could probably find his own way back, but he really didn’t want the others to see everything his world had to offer… The less said about Cia the better. 

“Yes, I can! But we have to go through Cia’s house!” The fairy announced happily. 

Warriors groaned and fought a blush. 

Figures. 

“Alright,” he sighed, trusting the others to follow and he started to head out, comfortable to use his soldier’s pace now that he was in his own world again. 

“Let’s mosey.” 

\-----

Warriors tried not to notice any of the decor last time he was here, but it was hard to ignore the gasps and snickers coming from behind him. He felt his shoulders lift up even higher, nearly engulfing his blushing ears. 

“Look, there’s another one of those wolves,” Wild muttered pointedly. 

“Another one of the kid,” Legend observed quietly. “Who is it, anyway?”

Time still hadn’t said anything since the incident, so no one but Warriors knew the small boy with the ocarina featured in many statues was the grizzled hero trailing exactly 11 paces behind him. A few knew Twilight’s secret by now, but Warriors wasn’t going to be the one to open that particular bag of cats. 

“I think this one is you, Sky,” Four said, squinting at the Link holding a blade aloft. Sky shrugged. 

Time continued to stay silent. Warriors continued to feel like a total heel. 

“So,” Wind said from right next to him, holy Hylia. He jumped and reached for his blade before his brain caught up with the rest of him. 

“Don’t scare me like that,” he scolded, “especially here.”

He had nearly died here, the Dark Links had been endless. He met Ganondorf here. His skin crawled at the broken and warped building, and infinite statues of other heroes. 

Wind watched him with a surprising amount of scrutiny, before continuing. 

“What’s up with this stuff? And the rose petals? And how weird this place is? That wall has an opening into like, magic purple void or something.” 

The others had fallen silent behind them, intently listening. Warriors continued silently making his way to the exit, going up the stairs in the main hall before stopping at the entrance to the main chamber. 

“This is Cia’s house,” he answered, ineffectively. “Cia is… was… a powerful mage who guarded the gates of time. She and her other half, Lana, watched over us as we cycled through our different adventures.” 

He turned and looked at Time’s feet, Twilight’s eyes and Sky’s understanding smile. 

“A few of us, in particular, drew her interest.” He grimaced self-deprecatingly and pushed the doors open. “Myself included.” 

There was a push to look at the new room, and soft murmurs as the others looked around in awe and concern at all the portraits of Warriors. 

“You’re a child in some of these,” Hyrule observed, creeped out. Warriors simply nodded, taking a deep breath and stepping into the room himself. 

The door did not slam shut behind him. 

He released his breath. 

“Cia and Lana were both incredibly lonely, only able to watch and never interfere or meet anyone. Eventually, Cia gave in to sorrow. And while she was vulnerable, Ganon found her.” 

There were muffled gasps from a few of the others met with harsh shushing. 

“He convinced her that she deserved to have everything she wanted, regardless of consequences. And that the only way to do that was to use the Triforce of Power to gather the other pieces and wish it to be true.” 

Warriors looked down and clenched his fist, the faint glow of the Triforce of Courage on his hand shining back at him. 

“He used her. Mercilessly, at every turn, and she fell deeper into obsession and madness.” He looked around sadly. 

“This was where we confronted her after I pulled the Master Sword. She had the Triforce of Power, she summoned an unbeatable, infinite army of… well, monsters.” Warriors hedged slightly, the image of himself but twisted and evil dancing before him. 

“Then Ganondorf showed up to lay claim to the Triforce.” Warriors looked back down at the scuffed, bloodied and warped floor. 

“He tried to steal it from her, but she escaped, and then I held him back while our forces retreated.” 

"You beat him, right?" Wind muttered.

“I retreated too,” Warriors rebuffed gently. “Eventually, we cornered Cia but she had begun using her own life force to power her magic. By the time we finally got through to her, it was too late. She faded away in Lana’s arms, and gave her the Triforce of Power.”

“That’s not that sad,” Legend remarked. “I don’t get why you’re so broken up about it.”

Warriors looked at him, baffled. 

Wind not so subtly elbowed him, and Legend huffed, turning away. 

Four placed a sympathetic hand on his arm.

“It’s hard when things could have been different.” The smith said simply. 

Warriors nodded. 

“Anyway, that’s what’s up.” Warriors finished, embarrassed, using Wind’s words from earlier. 

Proxi hummed thoughtfully. 

“Wow, Link! That’s the most I’ve heard you talk ever! You are really getting good at this!” The fairy praised, causing the others to stare. Warriors was among the more verbal of them. His ears felt hot again. 

“Thanks,” he replied quickly, striding towards the exit. “Anyway, this way to get out of this crazy place.” 

With a familiar rush of magic, Cia’s building fell away and he looked out over Hyrule Field. The scars from Ganon remained, but the castle was there, shining in the distance. 

“Welcome home,” Proxi said softly into his ear, just for him. He smiled at her. 

“It’s good to be back.” 

The familiar sound of the call to arms came from across the field. His head jerked up and turned sharply to the left, spotting incoming enemy forces. 

Hyrule castle was under attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how notes work, oops. 
> 
> Shout out to anyone who noticed the not slick at all reference in this chapter. The references will probably continue because I have no self-control.


	2. Battlefield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group start to form an idea of what Warriors is really capable of and are drafted into the Hylian army.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe so many people are reading this, oh my gosh. Thank you all for the kudos and comments! You are all amazing and the best! I've never posted fanfic before, never felt like it was good enough, but everyone has been amazing. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!

The familiar pounding of the battlefield music emptied Warriors’ mind of all but the battle before him and he bent down, quickly sketching out the battleground to reflect what the musical signals indicated.

 

“Occupied, only Allied Base for a keep, fairy keep, fairy unlock keep, locked,” he muttered, marking the symbols on the hastily drawn map. “Bombchu, great, captains here, here and…. Here.”

 

He sighed and listened intently. “Lana is here, Captains are in trouble here.”

 

He stared at the map, frowning.

 

“I could hit the Bombchu before it reaches Lana, but I probably wouldn’t be able to get to the Captains in time... “He bit his lip, murmuring, mentally making estimations of travel time and how fast he can take out the targets.

 

A hand on his shoulder made him jump and reach for his weapon.

 

It was Twilight, smiling weakly. “Good thing you happen to have a couple of extra heroes in tow.”

 

Warriors blinked at him for a second before grinning wickedly.

 

“All right!” He barked, straightening. “Links, form up!”

 

Obligingly, everyone stood in a passable line, Wind tipping his head up to appear a little taller.

 

Critically, he went over everyone with a soldier’s eye, evaluating. He pushed everything else to the side. The battle was all that mattered.  

 

“Sky, Time, you’re on rescue duty. Get to the captains and stay with them. Be fast, but hold your ground when you get there.”

 

“Four, Legend, you two are fast, go take out that Bombchu before it can attack Allied Base. After that, fall back to Allied Base to keep Lana safe.”

 

“Wild, Hyrule, you’re on crowd control. Anyone gets in trouble, you are the rescue. Otherwise, control the flow of enemies. Stay on the move.”

 

“Twilight, Wind, I want you two to go to these keeps, this one before this one. You’ll know what to do when you get there.”

 

“What are you going to do?” Legend asked, arms folded. Warriors looked at him, then back down at the map, methodically marking off every keep not already designated.

 

“These,” he said simply, looking back up at the group with a grin he knew was as sharp as his sword.

 

“Scary,” he heard someone mutter, but he was already scrubbing out the map beneath his heel, mind racing.

 

“I’ll be around if any of you get in over your heads. If a big guy shows up, I’ll take care of them, don’t worry.”

 

He took one last look at them.

 

If anything happened to any of them, he would burn this field to the ground with his wrath.

 

He nodded sharply, then turned and sprinted off towards the nearest keep.

 

\-----

 

“How does anyone get anywhere in this Hylia forsaken place!” Four huffed as both he and Legend came to a screeching halt in their Pegasus Boots just before they met another rock-filled entrance.

 

“At this point, I’ve completely lost track of where we were supposed to go, and neither of us thought to ask what a Bombchu even is in the first place!” Legend cursed, kicking the wall of rocks spitefully. They had both tried their bombs to no effect on the last two.

 

There was a clicking noise from behind them, and they both whipped around, slashing at the small monsters that now surrounded them.

 

“There’s so many,” Four huffed between blows.

 

A rush of heat came from behind them, sending them sprawling into one another. Four caught Legend with a surprised yelp, and they both turned to look at the new enemy.

 

It was Warriors, slicing easily through the small horde that had surrounded the two, an intent look in his eye. It didn’t even seem like he really saw his enemies or the two heroes, focused on something else only he could see.

 

In a blink, he was gone again, and behind the now ruined rock wall he had somehow destroyed, there was a giant… rat… thing with a blinking nose.

 

“That must be it!” Legend exclaimed, charging towards it with Four right behind him. Frantically, they swung at the moving bomb with everything they had, dodging out of the way of arriving enemies.

 

Finally, with one last blow from Four, the Bombchu stopped moving, and started flashing and smoking.

 

Alarmed, Legend met Four’s gaze just as the Bombchu exploded, sending them flying backward.

 

Four groaned. Legend coughed.

 

“I guess Warriors’ world is just as fond of explosions as he is.” Legend observed, hefting himself up.

 

Four shot him a look that he hoped conveyed _I don’t want to admit I agree with you, but I do_ and together they leaped back into battle, determined to hold the keep they had found themselves in from the oncoming hordes of enemies. A girl with blue hair danced around the edges of the keep, using odd magic. Probably the “Lana” Warriors had mentioned.

 

“How did he ever manage to do this just by himself,” Four muttered.

 

Legend didn’t answer, but the tightening of his mouth gave away his well-hidden concern.

 

Maybe there was more to Warriors than they had thought.

 

\-----

 

Sky was afraid.

 

He wasn’t supposed to be, with the Triforce of Courage and his status as a hero, but it was the truth.

 

Fi’s presence had completely disappeared from the Master Sword. It felt, for lack of a better word, dead. Even the area they were fighting in made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

 

Not to mention Time’s unnerving silence and distance. He found himself glancing at the other hero every few minutes, sure that he would be gone or facing Sky instead of the next enemy.

 

With a grunt, Sky found himself pushed back by a large...moblin? With a strange red glow surrounding it.

 

This wasn’t good. He could hear the shouts coming from behind the next area of enemies, the desperate calls of the Hylian captains in need of rescue.

 

He looked at Time, frantically hoping their unofficial leader had snapped out of it and had a plan.

 

But the older hero was just parrying attacks from the smaller enemies, an empty look in his eyes.

 

“Time!” Sky called, rolling out of the way of another heavy spear blow. “What should we do?”

 

Time looked at him blankly. The lack of recognition on his face sent shivers down Sky’s spine.

 

“Ah, ah, ah, what’s this?” A familiar voice drawled behind Sky, and he felt his blood curdle in his veins.

 

Robotically, he turned and standing there, a few feet away, was Ghirahim.

 

“How?” Sky croaked. He clenched his jaw, struggling to stay calm, and angled himself between the Demon Lord and Time. He wouldn’t let his enemy see Time strangely vulnerable like this.

 

“Sky child~” Ghirahim trilled, delight evident on his face. He sauntered toward Sky, raising his blade to-

 

A harsh impact sent Sky flying to the side and he cried out at a ripping sensation in his side.

 

The moblin.

 

He panted, lifting himself up and scrubbing the dirt out of his eyes and hissed. The spear had impaled him on his left side and he was now bleeding profusely.

 

Ghirahim laughed again and even as the moblin roared and charged Sky, he felt paralyzed by that laugh. Zelda, Zelda, _Zelda._

 

He braced himself, her smile on the backs of his eyelids.

 

There was a familiar battle cry, a rush of air and movement all around him, then a gurgle.

 

Ghirahim cursed.

 

“Time?” Sky opened his eyes.

 

Warriors stood over him protectively, eyes blazing blue, not even breathing hard. The body of the moblin slowly started dissolving next to him, and he faced Ghirahim with a fierce, dark expression that had Sky taken aback.

 

“Right here,” came a voice from over his shoulder, Time looking pale and shaken, but more aware than he’d been before. He helped Sky to his feet, supporting him with an arm around his waist.

 

“Here,” the older hero offered him a strange potion, yellow in color. Sky drank it gratefully, feeling invigorated when he was done and tried to grasp his sword again, but Time’s grip on him only tightened protectively.

 

“We should-” Sky glanced over at where Warriors and Ghirahim had been _about_ to start fighting, only to see Ghirahim _already_ on the ground, beaten within an inch of his life and Warriors standing impatiently over him. Sky blinked in disbelief.

 

“Next time,” Ghirahim hissed, eyes burning with hatred as he glared at Warriors, whose impassive expression did not change. Sky shivered as those eyes turned to him, changing into something _worse._

 

Then, he was facing the nearby outpost, as Time turned them around and blocked Ghirahim’s gaze. Sky looked up to see a furious snarl on Time’s face as he stared down Sky’s enemy.

 

There was a muffled “bye, dirtbag” from Warriors, and Time’s face relaxed slightly, finally releasing his hold on Sky.

 

He leaned around the other hero to see both Ghirahim and Warriors now gone.

 

“What?” He asked, intelligently, feeling off balance.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Time huffed, turning towards their objective with a single-minded focus.

 

“Later,” Sky agreed, turning as well. They’d have to be fast if they were to make it in time.

 

Sky sneaked another glance at Time as they both sprinted off towards the Hylian forces, blasting through anyone in their way. He didn’t look as calm as he usually did, but something had snapped him back to the leader and fighter Sky knew.

 

A rallying cheer went up as they joined the captains, and they continued fighting with refreshed vigor, the two heroes at their side.

 

Despite the lingering chill of his encounter with Ghirahim, Sky smiled, fear forgotten.

 

\-----

 

“This is insane!” Wild laughed hysterically, as yet another group of flaming enemies went flying into the air from a blast from Hyrule’s magic rod.

 

“Why haven’t you used this before?” Wild demanded as he pushed approaching enemies back from Hyrule as the other hero was facing the other way, eliminating a large mob of enemies shot by shot.

 

“I don’t like it that much,” Hyrule explained sheepishly. “It feels like cheating and I prefer my sword anyway.”

 

Another group of enemies vanished with a cry, leaving the field mostly barren of targets.

 

“Where next?” Hyrule asked, glancing around. “Where even are we?”

 

“Hold on,” Wild said, scrambling up a nearby wall. He peered through his Sheikah Slate scope, yelped and dropped back to the ground just in time to dodge a bout of flame.

 

“Dragon!” He exclaimed, eyes wide.

 

“Dragon,” Hyrule echoed, dismayed.

 

“We can take it,” Wild insisted, biting his lip. He notched an arrow, peeking up as the large shadow flew over them.

 

“Of course we can,” Hyrule said calmly, certain. Wild took a deep breath and tried to feel the same confidence.

 

“Right.” He nodded towards where the dragon was terrorizing a nearby captain. Wild met Hyrule’s steady gaze and then they both charged the dragon with a battle cry.

 

“Watch it,” Hyrule warned as a giant gust of wind blew past them. They both braced with their shields, Wild felt his feet slide backward with the force of the gale.

A blue light caught his attention and he lowered his shield just enough to see a glowing spot at the tip of the dragon’s tail.

 

“There!” He shouted, aiming a shot at the weak point but the buffeting winds merely blew the arrow aside.

 

He cursed and dodged out of the way of another fire blast.

 

“I can’t hit it,” Wild called. After a moment, Hyrule shouted back. “I can’t either!”

 

Then, there was a metallic clang as a claw attached to a chain latched onto the dragon’s tail.

 

Wild turned to see Warriors, holding the other end of the chain, wrenching the chain backwards and down in practiced movements with incredible strength.

 

With an earth-shaking thud, the dragon crashed into the ground with a cry, lying prone.

 

“Now!” Proxi, Warriors’ fairy, cried. Wild launched himself at the downed dragon, Hyrule right beside him, blow for blow.

 

Warriors was spinning around them, blade nearly dancing with vicious strikes, never so much as scratching his allies but tearing into the dragon with a ferocity that was… kind of scary, if Wild was honest.

 

In what felt like seconds, the dragon let out a keening whine and slumped to the ground, vanishing into shadows.

 

“Thank-” Wild started, turning to Warriors, but he was gone. He looked to Hyrule, who shrugged.

 

“Looks like there’s a mob forming over there,” Hyrule gestured up the field. Wild nodded, looking back to where the dragon had fallen. The dragons in his world were extremely powerful, he could knock loose material off one with a lucky shot, but defeating one?

 

Warriors had defeated this one in mere moments. With their help, sure, but he seemed as if he had faced this enemy before.

 

Wild shook his head.

 

_Later_ , he told himself firmly.

 

“Are you coming?” Hyrule asked, steady as always.

 

Wild nodded, turning back towards the incoming wave.

 

Together, they charged the enemy army, ready to cause more chaos.

 

\-----

 

“That’s 45 for me!” Wind crowed as he finished off yet another of the endless minions swarming around them.

 

“50,” Twilight smugly called, slowly carving them a path towards their destination. A keep on the far southeast, all by itself.

 

“ _You’ll know what to do when you get there,”_ Warriors’ voice repeated in Twilight’s head, condescending. He sighed, slicing through another group of enemies.

 

That wasn’t fair. Twilight just didn’t like not having all the information he could going into a situation.

 

Finally, they arrived at the keep, Wind breaking off for a moment to claim a nearby outpost while Twilight took in the situation.

 

There were massive, spectral chains across the keep’s ceiling, and a large bubble of energy that seemed to have a fairy trapped inside.

 

Twilight didn’t even know you _could_ trap a fairy in anything but an empty bottle.

 

The small creature was obviously in distress, and even if this hadn’t been their objective, Twilight would have been obliged to stop and help the fairy.

 

He hated bullies, after all.

 

Wind came sprinting up beside him, halting at the sight of the keep interior.

 

“Is that a fairy fountain?” Wind asked, squinting and making a weird face as he peered inside.

 

There was a fountain of some kind in the back, though the only fairy in sight was obviously not happy to be here.

 

Twilight shrugged.

 

“First to 100?” He suggested with a grin, charging in before Wind could respond. He laughed at the offended squawk the younger hero made behind him.

 

They were making good progress clearing the keep of enemies but with a sudden rush of dark energy a large creature that must be a Lizalfos and a large, red pig-like enemy appeared, both glowing red.

 

“I’ll take the… weird Moblin, I guess!” Wind called, leaping on the creature and nimbly dodging around its slow attacks.

 

“I got lizard man,” Twilight confirmed, raising his shield in preparation. The Lizalfos spewed flame in a line towards him, which Twilight easily blocked before lunging for where the Lizalfos had left himself wide open.

 

More quickly than he thought even possible, the Lizalfos recovered and blocked Twilight’s attacks. The began circling each other, each wary of a counterattack.

 

Wind cried out and Twilight whipped around, relieved to see it was merely a victory cry as the young hero plunged his sword into the Moblin’s chest, sending it collapsing to the ground.

 

Wind looked up at him, a streak of blood trailing down his face, eyes wide with alarm.

 

Twilight spun around just in time to barely dodge a blow by the Lizalfos, who bellowed in rage at the sight of his fallen comrade. Twilight blocked the next blow and locked blades with the Lizalfos, gritting his teeth against the strength it seemed to have gained from its fury.

 

Then, Wind was there, ducking in and out, slicing and nicking the Lizalfos anywhere he could, distracting it.  The Lizalfos turned and prepared to spew more fire on the younger hero, leaving just enough of an opening for Twilight to finally have a blow connect, slicing across the lizard’s chest.

 

Wind and Twilight stood there for a moment, breathing hard, as the lizard slowly dissolved into darkness.

 

“Thanks,” Twilight said, smiling at the younger hero who looked shocked, then pleased.

 

“Let’s get this fairy!” Wind hollered with enthusiasm, and together they claimed the keep from the last few enemies. The ball of energy floated down to the ground, vanishing along with the spectral chains.

 

Twilight approached the fairy, unsure of what to do next.

 

“Thank you!” Its tiny voice called, fluttering around them both. Strangely, the scratch Wind had received did not seem to heal. The fairy was orange, which was odd, but not odder than a blue fairy, so Twilight shrugged it off.

 

“Here,” Wind held out an empty bottle with furrowed brows. “We need your help with something, I guess?” He asked, uncertainty clear in his confused expression.

 

The fairy giggled.

 

“Alright,” and gently floated down into the bottle. “Don’t drop me!”

 

“We won’t,” Twilight promised, surprised.

 

“Well, that was pretty easy,” Wind muttered, carefully stashing the fairy away.

 

“Let’s head to our next destination,” Twilight sighed, and they both began running off to a nearby keep that Warriors had indicated was their second target.

 

“I think we run faster in this world,” Wind observed after a moment, pondering. “Did you notice?”

 

Twilight shrugged, not interested in magic only used on battlegrounds to aid massive armies. Not interested in magic, period, really.

 

“I’ll ask Warriors,” Wind declared, as they halted at the next keep’s entrance. It had a weird barrier around it, and seemed to be glowing.

 

Twilight reached out to touch it, curiously, and hissed, yanking his hand back and shaking it.

 

“It’s like lightning,” he said, in warning as Wind tried to do the same. Wind blanched and quickly pulled his hand back, reaching for where he had hidden the fairy instead.

 

“Here,” Wind said, carefully holding the fairy up to the barrier. “Can you get rid of this for us, please?”

 

“Such a polite young man!” The fairy tittered, swirling around Wind’s face once. “Of course I can! I’m a lightning fairy, after all.”

 

With that confusing tidbit of information that Twilight stashed away for later, the fairy flew easily into the barrier, causing it to fizzle and flicker out of existence.

 

“Bye!” The fairy called, flying off into the sky, back to wherever fairies go. The fairy fountain, maybe, now that it was clear?

 

“Bye!” Wind called back, waving cheerfully.

 

“Took you long enough,” said an amused voice behind them, and they turned to see Warriors looking at them with his hands on his hips and a cocked eyebrow.

 

“Warriors!” Wind exclaimed. “What was that?”

 

“A lightning barrier,” Warriors answered non-helpfully. “Only can be dispelled by a lightning fairy. If you go inside when it’s still up, it stings pretty badly and makes capturing keeps a pain.”

 

Idly, Warriors twirled his sword around his wrist, and though his face didn’t change, Twilight got the sudden feeling that he was pretty impatient for them to move.

 

“This is the last keep for the boss,” Warriors said, suddenly meeting Twilight’s eyes and stepping into the keep. “The key must be here. After this, I can take the Enemy Keep and end this.”

 

“Let’s go, then!” Wind exclaimed, rushing off enthusiastically towards a concentration of enemies.

 

“Wait!” Warriors called, alarmed, then he was gone, only a breeze left where he had been standing.

 

Twilight sprinted into the keep after the other two, stopping as he watched lasers come from four different directions, all aiming at Wind.

 

He cursed, pushing through a sudden wave of enemies towards Wind, but he wouldn’t make it in time. He lost his footing in a panic, being pushed to the ground by a hard blow. Wind hadn’t even noticed yet, cheerfully hacking away at a larger enemy.

 

Twilight’s breath caught as another breeze blew by him, sending his surrounding enemies flying, and he barely managed to catch sight of Warriors rushing around the keep, throwing frankly outrageous amounts of bombs at the statues taking aim at Wind, creating piles of rubble in his wake.

 

Warriors had the audacity to not even look like he had a hair out of place, and not a single blemish on his long scarf.

 

Wind finished off his enemy, as Twilight simply stared at Warriors, who turned and offered him a hand up with a small smile. Twilight took it, silently watching as Warriors ruffled Wind’s hair in celebration after he claimed the keep.

 

A small bubble with a key appeared and floated down to rest in front of Twilight. Wind and Warriors watched with, respectively, curious awe and indifferent satisfaction.

 

Twilight reached out, grasping the key, and offered it to Warriors who seemed surprised.

 

“Here,” Twilight grumbled. “Go finish your fight. We’ll be around if you need any backup.” He smiled as Warriors gratefully took the key, nodding.

 

“Stay close,” Warriors warned lightly, then with another breeze, he was gone.

 

There was a moment of silence.

 

“You forgot to ask him,” Twilight told Wind, who promptly began swearing like a sailor. He smiled fondly, and looked back to where Warriors had vanished.

 

“Not bad,” he muttered to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of notes. 
> 
> Have you seen how many bombs you throw in Hyrule Warriors?!? It must be like 20. Poor Legend and Four never stood a chance with their pitiful 2 bombs. 
> 
> That feel when you are super over leveled and have strong weapons, so just knock some bosses out in a few Focus Spirits and Specials. 
> 
> Rationalizing how information must be passed around the battle in HW hurts my brain, so we are going with good ole Musical Cues being actually real and coded messages. 
> 
> If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment! I've based everything off my own Hyrule Warriors experience, so it might be a little odd. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle ends and introductions are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, if Hyrule Warriors will not give me Link's backstory, I will make it myself. 
> 
> So, heads up for headcanons, I suppose? I have pretty strong headcanons for Warriors' backstory, so expect to see that pop up in this chapter and probably the next.

One thing people seemed to forget about Warriors was that he didn’t volunteer or sign up for the Hylian army. There was no draft in place, no cause he wanted to fight for.

He was recruited.

Like Twilight, he had once (tragically) been a country bumpkin, a simple farm boy with nothing in the future but the harvest and the next chore to be done.

Living with a family not his own that was charitable enough to take him in and care for him as a child, working hard in the field and aiding the aging couple was the best he could do to repay his debt to them.

Until a soldier came to town one hot summer day.

To a dirt-covered boy with nothing to his name but the sweat on his brow, everything about the Hylian Captain was striking. The shining armor, his calm and sure gray eyes, even his confident and brisk soldier’s march.

But what stood out the most was the man’s drive. He was going to get where he was headed, no matter what was in his way. Even if it was just a few of the village girls, flirting with him as he rested his horse. He had a goal, motivation, a purpose to his actions and everything else was below his notice.

Warriors had nothing. So, naturally, he had wanted that.

Equally naturally, he tried the most convoluted, unnecessarily abrasive and risky way to get it.

Sabotaging a soldier's horse, stealing his armor and weapons, and taking his now un-sabotaged horse for a joyride around town in the dead of night while said soldier chased him angrily in his underwear had been an idiotic plan and in retrospect, Warriors was surprised he hadn’t been murdered.

When the man eventually caught up to him, despite Warriors best efforts, he hadn’t known what to expect. He hadn’t planned this far ahead. He had a passing desperate thought to ride to a nearby town and sell the horse, weapons and armor, and start a new life as an outlaw, but he knew deep down, he just wanted to get the man’s attention. Anyone’s attention.

The Captain, who later Warriors would find was usually a calm, collected and furtive person, gave Warriors the most brutal and effective dressing down he has ever experienced. Even Time’s worst rants didn’t come close.

But, if there’s one thing Warriors has always been, it’s stupidly determined.

After the ringing in his ears had died down, and the man was wearing pants again, Warriors had tossed him back his sword, raised his own worn and ancient pitchfork, and challenged the man to a duel.

Warriors had figured there was a pretty even split that the man would kill him outright and be done with it all or that he would simply take his horse and leave this weird village kid in the dust.

Instead, the soldier accepted his challenge.

Obviously, Warriors was soundly defeated and his pitchfork was sent to the farm tool afterlife, but as he sat on his rear in the dirt trying not the cry, with bruised body and pride, the soldier did not leave him there as Warriors expected.

Instead, he offered a hand.

Gruffly, the man had muttered something about potential and promising youth and I see a bright future for you, son.

The man was quietly talking with the family Warriors lived with inside the farmhouse an hour later, long after Warriors had collected his things from his sleeping area in the barn. A torn and ragged blanket, an old box that has once held toys the other village children discarded but now held the few clothing items he could call his own.

Warriors appreciated the detail on the rich blue scarf that the soldier had slung across his well-mannered horse and tried not to hear the muffled voices or look at the house at all, really.

Everyone inside had made it clear long ago he wasn’t their problem, merely a tolerated burden, unwelcome even when he tried to help. He fed the horse the last carrot he had stashed away for lean winter nights.

With little fanfare, the soldier emerged from the house, implacable and steady, gestured for Warriors to get on the horse, and they trotted off in the weak light of early dawn.

When Warriors looked back, there had been no one standing at the door nor the window, and due to his previous misadventure with the soldier’s belongings, he had noticed when the man’s Rupee wallet seemed to jingle less than it had a few hours ago.

He tries not the think about it.

He was quickly adopted by the other soldiers and recruits, after some good-natured ribbing that Warriors hadn’t been able to differentiate from hostility ended in Warriors laying a couple of his training group out cold. They accepted him wholly, wordless and all, like a talented little brother they all loved to boast about and tease. Some moved on to different assignments as they finishing their training, and others continued to work hard at his side until the fateful day he had locked eyes with Princess Zelda.

After Warriors had proved himself in his first battle, receiving his green tunic “uniform”, the old Captain had gifted him the very scarf he had once admired. Never one for words, the man merely embraced him firmly before they headed out to the next engagement.

Warriors hadn’t found a good moment to talk to him again, only spying him at a distance until the battle at the Sealed Grounds.

When he locked blades with the Turncoat Leader, only to see those familiar, unshakable grey eyes looking back at him with something like regret.

It’s something else Warriors tries not to think about.

His recruitment and subsequent rise through the ranks, not to mention the many fights against Cia and Ganondorf, had given him an inflated sense of ability that he was keenly aware was mostly unearned. Contrary to popular belief, he did try and check himself and his own ego, with mixed results.

Still, he felt fairly confident as he marched quickly from where Twilight and Wind had just claimed the Boss Key, to the Enemy Base to face Zant alone.

Sure, Twilight would probably tear the guy limb from limb give half a chance, but Warriors could handle it on his own.

No need to place the others in more danger, after all. No need to tip Warriors’ hand even more than the battle already had, either.

He knew he had an unfair amount of knowledge about the others and their adventures, but he made a point not to use it. He had a book of notes, written in his Hyrulean Army’s code (the only Hylian he ever learned how to read) about what the others had mentioned, and therefore, what was safe to know.

As he stepped into the Enemy Base, Zant screamed (as usual) and contorted his body into impossible shapes, spinning erratically around the base and taking out some of his own foot soldiers.

Warriors sneered in disgust and tore into the Usurper King with no hesitation. Zant was insane, a little less creepy than Ghirahim, but that wasn’t really saying much. Warriors blocked through a series of strikes by Zant, dodged a summoned pillar, and then, channeling all his energy, unleashed a rapid series of strikes, making Zant scream furiously in pain.

As soon as he felt his energy fading, Warriors focused inside himself and twirled, chaining his attack into even more focused and intense strikes with his blade.

Sweat dripped down his brow as Zant screeched again before falling to the ground in defeat and he sheathed his sword in cold satisfaction. He waited a moment for the Usurper's tantrum to stop and picked up the damaged crown automatically.

Turning, to watch the remaining enemy forces flee, he froze. There, standing at the entrance of the former Enemy Base, were the other Links.

Warriors was suddenly keenly aware of the smudge of dirt he had on his cheek and nervously wiped the sweat from his brow. He had set a standard of looking impeccable with the others, and they hadn’t seen him like this before.

He couldn’t read their expressions, though Wind seemed to be almost vibrating. He took a step forward, surprised when he wobbled on his feet. He was rusty at these long engagements.

There was an alarmed noise from the group, and rapidly approaching footsteps that were too fast to belong to any of them.

“Link!” A blur of blue tackled him to the ground, and he looked up fondly into Lana’s slightly teary but grinning face.

“Lana,” he acknowledged, smiling slightly. He had missed her, missed everyone. He returned the hug slightly.

“I was so worried!” Lana said, climbing off of him with a heavy blush he politely ignored. “I knew you had gone to another time and place, but it wasn’t me, I swear.”

“I know,” Warriors reassured her, climbing to his feet. “I know you wouldn’t do that. This was something else, we think.” He grimaced, gesturing to where the others stood, silent.

“We?” Lana asked, turning to see the others. She gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

“Oh my,” she breathed, eyes wide and shining with tears. Warriors put a hand on her shoulder, trying to keep from glaring at the others for upsetting her. He might still be a little wired from the battle. They were not at fault for Lana’s reaction, he sternly reminded himself.

“Link!” Proxi chimed, “You defeated over 2,000 enemies! You got 30 materials! And over 30,000 Rupees!”

Warriors nodded, making a note to check in with Impa and Zelda and see where they stood for the smithy and treasury.

“No way!” Legend exclaimed, scowling. “That’s too many enemies to be possible.”

“So...many...Rupees…” Wind muttered dreamily, almost swooning.

“Materials?” Four murmured curiously.

Warriors shrugged, unwilling to explain, shoulders rising defensively even as Lana looked at him with understanding.

“Let’s go to the castle,” he said instead of any of the other things lingering on his tongue.

Lana glanced at the others, then back to him, brows furrowed in concern but delight evident in her bright eyes.

“Okay,” she agreed easily, wrapping an arm around his. He didn’t protest, feeling the small tremors shaking her form. She must have been terrified. It would have looked very bad if a bearer of the Triforce of Power had gotten rid of the Triforce of Courage.

Not to mention any of the battles they had to go through while he was gone.

“Any wounded?” He asked Proxi, who hummed thoughtfully.

“Only about 5% of our forces were wounded, and they are already being evacuated to the castle!” Proxi said after a moment.

Lana sighed in relief, as they walked through the others, who parted around them silently.

Warriors felt his face flush and tried to ignore Time’s intense look and Legend’s scrutinizing gaze.

“This way,” Proxi told them, fluttering happily.

Warriors walked behind Lana, and the others followed with slow, shuffling footsteps after a moment.

He looked up at Hyrule castle and felt his heart swell, eyes hot for a frightening moment. He took a deep breath and continued forward to his home.

\-----

Time felt the attention of the group linger on him, everyone relatively quiet as Lana and Warriors seemed to have a conversation despite Warriors never verbally responding.

He would have to explain himself eventually. They both would.

Time didn’t know how to start, silently wracking his brain to figure out what, exactly went wrong.

When they had first arrived, he had felt dizzy with the feeling of time warping around them, intrusive and sickeningly familiar. Before he even had the chance to find his footing in this new, time-twisted world he could feel around him, the blue fairy had appeared.

And he had been the boy without a fairy again. Heard the familiar, comforting chime he’d waited so long for.

Then, Warriors had cupped his hand around his fairy and Time was himself again. No longer the fairy boy, not a Kokiri, not a child.

He had needed some space, but after a few minutes of futile pacing, he had returned, knowing there was nothing for his embarrassing mistake but to keep muddling through and keep it together.

But it felt like something had been shaken loose in his brain. He found himself glancing down at his hands, expecting them to be smaller, uncalloused. He saw the flicker of the Lost Woods around him, vanishing as he turned his head towards it. He heard the lingering melody of an ocarina, hauntingly familiar. He would have sworn he saw large, luminous demonic eyes glowing from the shadows.

He should have managed to push through and ignore it, after all, it was just like one of his nightmares. Nothing new.

But then, he saw himself. Everywhere.

The statues, in the mansion filled with roses. His own face, a child with that cursed-beloved ocarina and himself again, older but still only a child. Over and over.

He felt his mind drifting off, and everything felt detached. He felt like he was floating above himself, looking down.

He was suddenly sure none of this was real. It was merely a nightmare he was having. He watched himself walk with the others, and saw him walk a pace behind Sky as they split off.

He watched as Sky struggled against a powerful enemy, and even as the boy fell and took a blow to the side, Time felt only a trickle of concern. It was a dream. He was only a spectator.

Then, he was flat on his back as someone pushed past him. He blinked, the sun was harsh in his eye and there was sweat stinging his scar. His feet ached. He dug his fingers into the dirt. It was real.

It was real.  
  
Sky.

He rushed over, only to be confronted with Warrior’s blazing blue eyes, the other hero’s sword tearing into the powerful enemy, taking up position between Sky and yet another enemy, this one wearing some kind of poncho and wielding a sword.

“Time?” Sky’s voice was oddly small and Time felt it ground him even more as he went to his side.

“Right here,” he had reassured, heart sinking at Sky’s dazed and relieved look.

Now, as they walked to the castle, he was staring at Warriors, whose shoulders were starting to rise defensively around his shoulders.

Time was no longer the child who stayed silent. He needed to apologize, explain.

They were nearly at the castle. He opened his mouth.

Suddenly, Warriors stopped, shoulders dropping into a ready stance. The others tensed, hands going to their weapons.

In a flash, Warriors turned on his heel, bringing his blade up to block a strike by a massive sword. Holding the sword, was what must be Warrior’s version of Impa. White hair, armored and with familiar face tattoos, the woman glared at Warriors with surprising vitriol.

Warriors merely held her gaze. After a moment, Impa huffed and lowered her blade.

“Nice to see you too,” Proxi chimed cheekily.

“Only you would be able to stop my blade like that,” Impa said. “Welcome back, deserter.” There was relief in her eyes despite the sneer on her face.

“Deserter!” Lana exclaimed in dismay. “No! I told you, the magic that took him was too powerful for me to stop or trace, he didn’t have a choice!”

“That remains for the Princess to decide,” Impa said implacably. Her red eyes shifted to the rest of the group and narrowed.

“And who are these men?” Impa asked, and despite the lack of tension in her stance, Time knew she was ready to end them at any sign of ill intent.

“Well,” Lana started, biting her lip. “These are… other incarnations of the Hero of Courage. You should know some of their stories, and we-”

She was cut off by Warriors making a sharp motion with his hand, looking at the others uncomfortably. Time narrowed his eyes. He was trying to hide something.

Impa observed this all before sighing.

“I can recognize heroes when I see them. I am General Impa.” She said, giving them a small smile as she sheathed her sword.

“Welcome to Hyrule Castle!” Lana flounced around to stand near Impa, smiling widely. “I’m sure the Princess will want to speak with all of you after she sees Link of course.” There was a moment of awkward silence.

“Oh!” Lana realized. “I mean, our Link! This world’s Link? How are you able to keep it straight?” She asked Warriors with sincere confusion.

“We have nicknames,” Legend answered, arms crossed with a scowl. He seemed as uncomfortable as Time felt. “I’m Legend. Nice to meet you.”

Hyrule nervously bowed. “I go by Hyrule.”

Sky went down to one knee in the classic knight pose, which Wild copied seemingly automatically.

“Sky,” the still bloody chosen hero introduced himself.

“Wild,” quietly came from the hooded blonde.

“Twilight,” came from beside Time, looking uncomfortable at Wild and Sky’s subservience.

“Four,” the smith said, offering a hand to shake which was bemusedly mirrored by Impa.

“I’m Wind!” The youngest of them waved enthusiastically, met with a stoic nod. Impa’s eyes went to Time expectantly.

“Time,” he inclined his head slightly.

“And they’ve been calling Link ‘Warriors’,” Proxi said, causing Warriors to close his mouth that just opened, and nod instead.

“Or Captain,” Wind offered.

“Or pretty boy,” Legend snickered.

Impa looked intrigued but there was a protective heat in her eyes when she looked at Legend that made him cough, composing himself.

“Captain, eh?” Impa drawled, raising an eyebrow at Warriors, who rubbed the back of his head and turned away from the group. “Didn’t feel like telling them your real rank, then?”

Lana giggled.

“Can we just go talk to Princess Zelda?” Warriors asked, somewhat muffled, like he was speaking through fabric.

Impa blinked and Lana bounced a little, tugging on the other woman’s arm.

“Of course,” Impa answered, turning in clear invitation for them to follow her into the castle. “I’m not certain where the Princess is at the moment, but I’m sure Sheik can tell you where she is.”

Time stopped mid-step.

“Sheik?” He asked, looking at Impa suspiciously.

“Yes,” she answered, eyeing him with equal animosity. “Why?”

“Nothing,” he answered, trying not to laugh or snort to give the game away. “I just knew a Sheik in my era, that’s all.”

Impa’s eyes narrowed, calculating something. Warriors had lifted his scarf to cover the bottom half of his face, but there was a flush clearly visible on his cheeks.

“That’s interesting,” an unfamiliar voice commented lightly from behind Time.

He jumped and had the Biggoron Sword pointed at the threat before he registered the bandaged head and masked face.

Sky and Twilight also had their blades drawn, ready to back him up if needed.

Sheik merely raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

Warriors slipped between them, gently lowered Time’s blade with his gloved hands, and gesturing for the others to stand down.

“About time you showed up,” Sheik scolded Warriors lightly, with slightly lifted arms.

Warriors smiled warmly and briefly embraced Sheik, shrugging when he pulled away.

“Couldn’t help it,” Warriors answered quietly. Even though Sheik’s expression didn’t change, Time sensed a surprised delight from under the masked face.

He stepped forward, unsure how long he wanted to play along with this deception, and equally unsure how long the group would maintain their odd silent observation.

“Sheik,” he said, offering a hand to shake. “Nice to see you do your namesake’s legacy proud.”

This Sheik was more feminine, with a different body shape than the Sheik Time had known. There was a long blonde braid down the back. A harp was attached to the back of the ninja outfit Sheik wore, and they had multiple knives sheathed along their thighs and hips.

“Hero of Time.” Sheik greeted formally, shaking his offered hand. “I appreciate your approval.”

“And these are-” Impa began, but Sheik cut her off.

“I heard the introductions earlier. Nice to meet you all.” There were friendly nods all around.

“Zelda should be ready soon,” Sheik said. “I will go inform her of your arrival, please wait in the throne room.”

Time and Warriors nodded with the same knowing levity, Impa eyeing them both. Lana nodded, and gestured further into the castle gates.

“This way!” She said cheerfully. “Then we can figure out what’s going on.” Glancing back, Time was unsurprised to see that Sheik was gone.

“So cool…” Wind whispered.

The group followed Lana’s lead with Impa falling behind to murmur quietly to Warriors, who responded quietly occasionally.

Soon enough, the group of uneasy heroes came to what must be the throne room. It was ornate, with stained glass windows everywhere, and the Triforce easily spotted in several of the designs.

The King’s throne itself was a plush red, gilded in gold and the Queen’s was the same, but in a rich dark blue and silver. They were both notably empty.

Sitting in a smaller, relatively plain silver and white throne off to one side was Princess Zelda.

Resplendent, with bright eyes and a saber at her side, she is not Time’s Zelda, and yet….

He kneels before her throne on one knee, and hears the others do so as well.

It feels only right to give this Zelda the same reverence and respect he felt for his own.

“Rise, please, heroes of Hyrule.” Her clear, calm voice rings out like a bell. He rises to his feet with the others, eyes locked on the Princess.

But she only has eyes for Warriors.

“Step forward, Hero of this Hyrule.” Warriors obeys, face completely blank.

The Princess stepped lightly towards Warriors, stopping a step above him.

“You are charged with desertion and abandoning your post. Link, what say you to these charges?”

Time pushed back a sense of dread. Was this Warriors’ trial?

“Guilty, but I had no other choice. I was forced to leave.” Warriors voice was strong and steady, and his fairy jingled supportively at his shoulder.

The Princess nodded.

“I understand. Therefore, I declare you cleared of all charges and innocent.”

Zelda smiled, and leaped forward, wrapping her arms around Warriors tightly. He gripped Zelda back just as fiercely.

“Welcome back, Link,” Zelda said warmly, pulling away and looking at the rest of them with warm eyes.

“And welcome to all of you, other Links. Please consider this place your home for as long as you like. Anything you might need, please, you only need but ask. I would be delighted to assist other heroes of Hyrule in any way I can.”

Time nodded, stepping forward.

“Thank you, Princess. We are quite weary from all the travel, and would be grateful to have a place to rest.”

“Of course,” Impa answered. “Let me show you to the quarters we have available. Lin- uh, Warriors,” she hesitated. “I assume you want to return to your own quarters in the barracks?”

Warriors shook his head.

“I’d rather we all stay together, in case we are transported again. I’ll go by later.”

Impa and Zelda both looked at Warriors with concern, as Lana simply nodded.

“Very well,” Impa said. “Everyone, please follow me.”

\-----

Warriors looked around the room Impa had lead them all to. It was obviously once a noble’s room, transformed into a room that could fit their entire group.

He scuffed his dirty boots on the pristine carpet with a sigh. What was he even going to tell-

“I owe you all an apology,” Time said suddenly, making Warriors’ jerk his gaze to the older hero. Time was sitting stiffly, looking uncomfortable, in a chair, polishing the Biggoron Sword and not looking at any of them.

“This world, it feels…. Sick. The way time bends here is unnatural, and I’ve only experienced magic like that a few times. During some of the worst moments of my life. That threw me when we first arrived.”

Time grimaced. “Then, there was your fairy, Warriors. Long story short, I had a blue fairy once. Sorry for the confusion, Proxi.”

Proxi chimed softly.

“And then, the statues and that weird place. Seeing my own face looking back at me, with that time-sick feeling. Well.”

He paused, eyes distant.

“It messed with my head. I’m sorry. Sky, I’m sorry I-” Sky placed a hand on Time’s shoulder with a soft smile.

“You snapped out of it.” Sky said confidently. “I’m sorry we didn’t notice, maybe we could have done something better.”

Time shook his head, but the relief was clear on his face.

“We get it,” Four said understandingly. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not a big deal.” Twilight chimed in reassuringly. Wild nodded sincerely.

Time nodded and looked back down at his sword.

“Thank you.”

There was a moment of peace.

Then, Warriors realized everyone was looking at him expectantly.

“So,” Legend drawled, and Warriors realized that he’d made a mistake, being in a room with the others.

He wasn’t ready to answer the questions they were sure to ask. But they’d also made a mistake, and he was the closest one to the door. He saw Wild and Four start to move with sounds of alarm.

So, he did what he did best.

Acted, instead of thinking or talking.

Warriors turned and fled, pacing quickly down the maze of corridors that made up the castle, ignoring dismayed calls of his name.

Proxi fluttered alongside him as always, but her silence rang louder than the shouts echoing after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still not happy with this chapter, but it went on and on and on.... It had to end somewhere. 
> 
> Sorry for the wait! Time had a lot to think and say. Also, consistent POV and tenses? I don't know her. 
> 
> I feel like I keep saying this, but oh dear, there are so many of you reading this. I am flattered and also very scared. Thanks for reading!!


	4. Hide & Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 2, didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long.   
> The gang look for Warriors, with varying success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm contractually obligated to warn you that here there be headcanons. I just have a lot of thoughts about the Hyrule Warriors universe, okay???

After Warriors had all but fled, panicked and pale, the group had split up to look for him.

Wind wasn’t looking very hard, though. He figured the older hero needed some time to collect himself. He was more interested in sight-seeing than hero-hunting.

The castle and all its splendor was awe-inspiring, perfectly intact and filled with people. They gave him curious looks as he passed, but no one stopped him or interacted with him more than a polite nod.

His Hyrule Castle had been underwater for so long, most of the detail had been worn away through the ages. This one was brimming with artistry and detail. He clutched his Picto Box tightly, and snapped away as he roamed.

A stained glass window depicting Hylia. An ornate tapestry of the royal family, with Zelda as a teenager, her smile wide and carefree. Several birds gathering in the courtyard garden as someone scattered seed for them.

A familiar blue scarf peeking through a crowd of people.

Wind sighed and deleted that one. Warriors really wasn’t one for stealth, too flashy.

Wind leaned against the windowsill and propped his chin on one hand, sighing as he watched the blue scarf bob and weave through enthusiastic people who seemed determined to personally welcome back their hero.

He considered taking his telescope out but discarded the idea with another sigh. Wind was curious, but he could respect Warriors’ privacy. For now.

He turned away from the window and wandered farther down the hall, glancing about. Rounding a corner, he stopped, staring at the worn portrait hanging at the end of the next hall.

It was the King of Red Lions. Or, he corrected himself, King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule.

At least, Wind was fairly certain it was supposed to be the King of his Hyrule. The face was a little off, and the paint had faded or worn out in areas, but the eyes and the regal posture were pretty accurate.

Automatically, he lifted his Picto Box and snapped a pictograph. He had wanted a picture to show Aryll, but hadn’t been able to get one before… Well.

He tucked his Picto Box away and walked closer to the painting. There was an inscription of some kind below it, a little faded, but he could just…

Oh, it wasn’t in his Hylian.

He swallowed around bitter disappointment and ran his fingers lightly over the carved characters.

“Ah,” came a gentle voice from behind him. He turned, somehow unsurprised to see Princess Zelda looking at him with sympathetic eyes.

“Princess,” he mumbled, scrubbed at his eyes with embarrassment. He hadn’t been crying, but it felt like he had. He sniffed, then went to kneel.

“Please,” the Princess said, stopping him with a gentle hand. “Call me Zelda. And there is no need for formalities.”

She was so pretty. Wind could see an echo of Tetra in her face, and he wondered if this is what she’d look like all grown up. The thought of Tetra made his hand go to his necklace, dark as it always was these days. He missed her.

Belatedly, he realized he should have said something, and looked at Zelda, but she had already moved over to the painting.

“Do you know him?” She asked, lightly. “He is one of the past Kings of Hyrule, but we know very little about him.”

She lightly touched the inscription, reading aloud. “Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, King of the Red Lions and Hyrule. Defender of the future.”

“Not much, is it?” She commented, glancing at him. Wind nodded. Not nearly enough to encompass the King of the Red Lions.

“He didn’t actually rule over any lions,” Wind found himself blurting out. Zelda looked at him with interest.

“He was a boat for a while, and his bow was carved like a lion’s head. And he was red,” Wind added, feeling a bit foolish.

But Zelda was still listening, all soft eyes and furrowed brows.

“He was a small boat,” Wind said. “Only big enough for one or two people, and he had a big sail, with a swirl on it. We got a better sail later, and he could go way faster.”

Zelda smiled.

“Sounds like you two spent a lot of time together.” She observed, sitting down on a plush bench and gesturing for him to join her. “I’d love to hear all about it.”

She was so pretty. He clutched his necklace, missing Tetra terribly for one long, miserable moment. Then he looked back at her. 

“Yeah,” Wind nodded, blushing a little as he sits next to her. “In my time, Hyrule flooded a long time ago…”

\-----

Four had questions for Warriors, sure, but was patient. He could wait for the other hero to come to them. Right now, he was more interested in finding the smithy.

On their way in, he had caught sight of weapons that he _had_ to know more about. The giant blade Impa wielded, the seemingly weaponized harp Sheik had, the Princess’s rapier; they all spoke of extremely skilled craftsmen designing and working these diverse weapons into existence solely with the wielder in mind.

Sure, he spotted the standard longsword among the guards and knights, but the custom design and smithing work that those weapons would have required….

Four just wanted to talk for a little while, promise.

He had thought to ask Impa but the General seemed to have vanished along with Warriors, so he turned to the method that had yet to let him down. Talking to everyone he saw.

He struck gold with the 5th soldier he asked, a young recruit who wore slightly misfitted armor and was eager to prove himself helpful and a servant of the kingdom. A small promise to look at the fittings on his heavy armor, and Four had himself a cheerful escort to the smithy.

A few minutes later, he felt himself straining at the volume of words that were coming out of the solider’s mouth.

“... I mean, you all came in with Link, and he’s the best, man, just the best! So I figure, you guys must be pretty good as well, but then I see you all look kinda similar, and I think _no way_ , Link has found some family! How awesome for that guy, he totally deserves it, but then the General says that you’re all heroes and that all of you are called Link, and like, I get a family name but generally it’s not the first name, you know?”

Four was trying to listen, he really was, but he felt himself tuning the solider out in self-defense. Luckily, he didn’t seem to require any input from Four to keep going.

“... I didn’t know that Link had any family left, you know? I mean, he’s a private guy, don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk before, but you hear things, you know? Don’t get me wrong, we all love the guy and won’t stand for a bad word against him, but you can’t help but hear things sometimes...”

Four thought about the giant blade Impa wielded. If he could manage to replicate it, maybe Wild or Time would get some use from it. Or maybe the smithy will have advice about Wild’s chronic broken weapon problem. A smith that experienced must know a thing or two about weapon durability.

“....And anyway, that’s how I got stationed here. Hard to be on the frontlines when you’re missing a limb, and those Dark Links were no joke, let me tell you.”

Four snapped back to attention and stared at the soldier. Catching his look, the soldier smiled brightly and gestured to his left leg. What Four had assumed was a limp from the armor, either it’s ill fit or the solider being unused to its weight, was actually some kind of prosthesis.

The craftsmanship was outstanding and unlike anything else that Four had ever seen.

“The smithy fixed me up with it after Link commissioned him to make it,” the soldier said, continuing on his trek towards the smithy.

“He commissioned it for you?” Four asked, surprised. “Are you two close?”

The soldier shrugged.

“No particularly, Link’s just like that. He finances everyone’s gear around here, that’s one of his official duties. He manages the smithy, the apothecary, the training dojo, the badge market, and the supplies. It’s been a right mess without him here these last few weeks.”

The soldier smiled brightly as they turned a corner. Four could hear the familiar clanging of a blacksmith shop getting closer.

“He’ll go find designs for the smithy to work with sometimes. A while ago he went out to some ruins and found Lady Lana a new weapon design. Some kind of summoning magic, I’m not sure, but she dances when she uses it and it’s the cutest thing. Except then she summons horrifying monsters, but you get used to it after a while.”

The soldier looked suddenly nervous, a faint flush on his cheeks, and turned a pleading gaze on Four.

“Don’t tell anyone I said it was cute, I’ll be dead meat.”

“I won’t,” Four promised, mind racing. So, Warriors was… what? A quartermaster? Not a Captain, Impa made that clear, but was he higher up in command than that? He couldn’t be lower than Captain with the responsibilities he had, could he?

“Anyway, here we are!” The soldier announced cheerfully, as they came to a stop in front of a massive stone building. Four breathed deeply and closed his eyes, savoring the familiar smells and sounds he had missed.

“Thanks,” Four told the soldier, who nodded easily. “Let me take a quick look at your armor before you go.”

After a few moments, it became clear that the main issue was that the armor clearly had been sized for someone much larger than the solider currently wearing it, and it was causing issues.

Not to mention the odd way it interacted with his prosthetic leg. It must bang around something awful.

With some padding, leather or cloth would be best, the problem would be solved. Four told the soldier as much and promised to check back in to see how things felt with some extra cushioning. The soldier went on his way with a smile and a cheery whistle while Four turned to the smithy building.

It was time to get back to work.

\-----

  
Hyrule had somehow found something called “the badge market” inside the bazaar and was halfway through haggling for an empty bottle when he spotted Warriors talking to a few merchants.

As subtly as he could, he shuffled towards the conversation, continuing his bidding war with the cheerfully stubborn merchant.

“...going to have to order more stamina fruit,” Warriors was sighing, looking over a stack of parchment. “Has the new apothecary assistant arrived yet? She put in a request before I left, but I hadn’t heard back.”

“Arrived a week ago, sir,” one of the merchants said reassuringly. “Doing quite well, from what I’ve been told, a bit young but a prodigy, so they say.”

Warriors nodded distractedly, crossing something off his parchment.

“I can get the fruit here in the next week, sir,” another merchant piped up, looking a tad nervous. “I have a supplier who happens to be passing through a few towns over.”

“Great,” Warriors said, relieved, and smiled brightly at the man, causing him to flush. “As many as you can get a hold of. Cost is no object.”

“Now,” a grizzled merchant said, crossing his arms. “Just a minute there, Link. You promised me and my boys payment for our shipment before you, uh. Left. You have a few debts to settle first. Not to mention the men need to be paid, food needs to be ordered-”

“I already paid your second-in-command, don’t pretend you didn’t know. And you should know better than to tell me how to do my job, _sir_.” Warriors sounded positively icy, and Hyrule winced.

The merchant he was bargaining with saw, and sensing weakness, declared his final price. Admitting defeat, Hyrule reluctantly handed over far too many Rupees for the bottle.

There was silence from Warriors and his group, then a sigh.

“Sorry, that was uncalled for.” Warriors said evenly.

“No, no, you’re right.” The grizzled merchant said, sighing. “I was out of line. It’s been tough without you, Link. I’ve had to fight to get what my boys deserve. I should know better now that you’re back. I’m sorry.”

The other merchants standing around them muttered their own affirmation to the grizzled merchant’s sentiment.

“I’m still sorting things out,” Warriors offered, sounding embarrassed and exhausted. “If you genuinely have a grievance that hasn’t been addressed yet, let me know, but otherwise I’m working on it.” He waved his parchment around, and Hyrule bet there was some sort of task list on it.

“Sir,” the merchant Hyrule had been haggling with said, loud and sudden. “If you’re not going to buy anything else, then please get out of the way.”

There was a damning silence from where Warriors was, and Hyrule nodded, fighting down an embarrassed flush, and turned around.

Warriors was gone, the merchants he had been talking to looking disgruntled in one direction.

Hyrule caught a flash of blue scarf before it vanished.

He sighed.

“Hey,” came from the group of merchants, and Hyrule looked over to see the grizzled merchant looking at him with a furrowed brow.

“Are you the one that Link is hiding from?” The merchant asked, and the others turned with interest to see Hyrule’s answer.

“Not me in particular, no,” Hyrule answered honestly, glancing after Warriors mournfully. “But I think he believes I’ll tell the others where he is.”

“And will you?” The stamina fruit merchant asked, and Hyrule blinked.

The merchants looked defensive and worried. Some were positioning themselves like they were preparing for a fight. Hyrule was obviously armed, but these citizens were putting themselves between him and Warriors.

“No,” he answered honestly. “I think the others should give him some space. I mostly came here looking for a few bargains.”

He gestured with the empty bottle. The merchants relaxed, the grizzled one even snorting and gesturing for Hyrule to come forward.

“Well, we can provide some of those, right folks?” The merchant asked good-naturedly.

Hyrule stepped forward and smiled at the group of people who just seconds ago had been willing to intervene on Warrior’s behalf.

“I’m glad he has people like you to look after him,” Hyrule said earnestly, bowing slightly. “He’s quite troublesome, sometimes.”

The grizzled merchant blinked at him while the other merchants laughed slightly.

“That he is, boy.” Another merchant snickered, as they easily enveloped him into their fold and steered him towards their respective stalls and wares.

“C’mon, let’s show you where the good stuff is.”

\-----

  
Legend was annoyed. He replayed Warriors’ apparent fear-fueled retreat in his mind, leaving him standing there with his mouth hanging open like a fool.

And now, while trying to find Warriors and maybe sit on him until he answered Legend’s questions, he had gotten a little... confused.

Legend was _not_ lost.

He was simply unsure of his location in relation to where he wanted to be. He had found some kind of training grounds, currently not in use and filled with dummies with crudely drawn monster faces on them.

Spitefully, he kicked one of the dummies, then kicked it again when it did not go flying. It rocked back a forth, the childishly drawn monster face mocking him. Legend narrowed his eyes.

One ruined dummy later, he was breathing hard and covered in a mix of sand and straw.

He sighed, and kicked at the dummy’s stupid face once more, briefly imagining that it was Warriors’ shin.

A giggle came from behind him, and he turned with a snarl.

“Shut your-”

A young girl with blonde hair in braided pigtails was watching him from a good distance away, sparkling green eyes matching her green coat. She wore shorts visible under a skirt, and crossbows fastened at her legs. An overly large compass swung from around her neck.

She was wearing Pegasus Boots.

“If you break a dummy, you aren’t allowed to come back to the training dojo for a week.” She chided him in a sing-song voice.

He snorted.

“I don’t have to follow any of your rules,” he sneered, crossing his arms. He watched as she practically skipped closer to him, thinking.

“You seem… familiar.” Legend said slowly. “Who are you?”

The girl laughed at him again, making him bristle.

“I know who you are~” she practically hummed, clasping her arms behind her back and doing a slow circle around him with eager eyes. He glared.

“Oh, oh, I know!” She exclaimed, suddenly coming to a stop and clapping her hands together with excitement. “Let’s race! If you beat me, I’ll tell you who I am and how I know you, and if I win, you have to fix the dummy and do one thing of my choosing.”

“That’s not equal at all,” Legend grumbled, edging away from her now. His foul mood was flagging in the face of her honest enthusiasm.

“Hmm,” the girl tapped her chin thoughtfully. “What about…. I teach you how to use these?” She gestured to the crossbows. Were those ice and fire arrows equipped?

“And I get to take a crossbow or two with me. To practice with.” Legend insisted, smirking just a little.

“Okay,” the girl agreed too easily. “But then if I win you have to teach me how to use a sword and shield.”

Legend blinked at her, surprised.

“Couldn’t you ask someone else around here to teach you that?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Mmm, I could,” the girl agreed. “So, do we have a deal?”

She offered a hand for him to shake.

“Ah, why not?” Legend mumbled to himself, shaking her hand. The girl cheered, throwing a hand in the air in celebration.

“Okay, so,” she said, glancing around.

The training dojo, as she had called it, was a large rounded area with stacked, raised seating around it in a kind of wall. It could probably seat hundreds of people. The final level had a solid wall peaking out from behind it, enclosing the whole area with a ring of flags flying overhead.

“Three laps around the training grounds,” she said, pointing around the border of the area. “Starting and finishing point at the main gate.”

She lifted her hands to cup her mouth.

“OI! Lana!” She shouted, to absolutely no one but the empty sky. Legend stared at her in confusion.

“She probably can’t-” he started.

“Yes?” Came the shout from outside the training grounds. And there Lana was, lightly jogging into the training dojo with a concerned look.

“Is everything okay?” Lana asked the girl who nodded, practically vibrating with excitement.

“We’re having a race and we need a judge,” the girl explained, grabbing Lana’s hand and gently dragging her over to the gate, quickly drawing a line in the dirt with her boot.

“This is the finish line,” the girl explained, as Lana just stared in confusion. “We’re doing three laps, first to finish wins. No magic items besides the boots and no other magic at all. No attacking or tricks, only a footrace, okay?”

Legend nodded in agreement.

“Can you count down for us?” The girl asked Lana, who seemed to be getting the idea. She nodded, and the girl and Legend took their places.

“On your mark!” This was going to be easy.

“Get set!” He glanced over at the girl, her joyful demeanor changing into something sharp and cold that sent a cold chill down Legend’s spine. She smiled at him.

It was silly to be scared of a little girl, right? _Right?_

“Go!”

Legend was sprinting, pushing himself harder than he had in days. He figured he could sprint the two long lengths of the track and then recover his stamina the two short lengths in-between. That should put him ahead of the girl.

He turned the corner and glanced back. He smirked. He was so far ahead of her he couldn’t see anything but his own dust cloud.

He had this in the bag.

Lana cheerfully waved at him as he passed her, still no sign of the girl.

Finally, he was on his last lap and crossed the finish line breathing hard but smiling.

“Good job!” Lana cheered, handing him a flask of water.

Legend nodded, glancing around the dusty training grounds.

“So, how far behind is the girl?” He felt pretty smug.

Lana blinked at him, tilting her head slightly.

“Oh, she finished a while ago. She went to get a snack, she should be back soon.”

“What?” He barked, shocked. “I didn’t see her the entire time!”

Lana nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, she’s pretty fast, and she was running on the upper level of the training grounds, not on the dirt.”

She pointed helpfully at the wall topped with flags and Legend scowled. He had been played.

“How did she even get up there,” he muttered crossly.

“Hookshot!” Came the girl’s voice from the entrance, carrying an armful of fruit. She grinned, pleased when he shot her a dirty look.

“Never said non-magical items were off limits, and besides, if anything it gave you a head start.” She tossed Lana a piece of fruit and offered one to Legen, eyebrows wiggling.

Grudgingly, he took it. He was charmed with her quick thinking and spunky personality despite himself.

“Don’t worry, I'll tell you who I am because otherwise it’s no fun.” The girl bit into her apple nonchalantly and smiled at him. He felt a twinge of foreboding as he cautiously bit into his own apple.

“I’m Linkle, Link’s twin.”

Legend dropped his fruit, choking on the piece in his mouth. 

He heard the girl- _Linkle_ -giggle in delight as he coughed and hacked. Lana patted his back apologetically.

"What a waste of a perfectly good apple," Linkle tutted, the sad tone ruined by the wicked smile on her face. It was the exact same smile Legend had seen from across a campfire many times before, sometimes partially hidden by the iconic blue scarf.

Oh yeah, this girl was  _definitely_ related to Warriors. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Linkle is the best and how could I not include her?!? I know Jojo has referenced that she will not be joining the group, but I can dream, can't I? 
> 
> True fact: Linkle is a weapon of mass destruction in my HW game, any problematic level I just use her and she will steamroll anything in her path. She's the best <3
> 
> Also the weapon that the solider is referencing is Lana's Summoning Gate, which if you haven't seen her use, you should youtube it. It is, in fact, adorable. 
> 
> My brother and I tend to use Lana and Linkle respectively on co-op a lot, so I like to think of them as good friends. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading and leaving kudos, it means a lot to me <3 You guys are the best. 
> 
> ~~~~
> 
> Super sneak preview of the next chapter with the remaining Links:
> 
> In his search for Warriors, Wild had, naturally, found the kitchen instead.   
> \-----  
> Time found himself staring down something he’d thought he’d never see again: a great fairy.  
> \-----  
> Twilight finds himself in the stables and encounters an unexpected familiar face.   
> \-----  
> Sky finds Warriors talking to an old friend. 
> 
> See you all next time!


End file.
